iCommunity

Original Post Wednesday, August 7, 2013 for Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

There is a lot of talk about cell phones this week. On Saturday, I had a long conversation with two young women who traveled to Belize with our youth group this summer. We had many powerful experiences in Belize - we experienced transformation of families, we heard about wonderful ministries, we participated in the building of a bathroom and in the building and rebuilding of lives. We witnessed the powerful movement of the spirit creating a Christ-like community. We spent time genuinely listening to those in our group and those locals which became part of our group. We had hours of conversation about God’s work in our lives over dinner tables and campfires. And we did it without cellphones.

Upon their return, these two ladies were struck by many things in their lives, one of which our society’s dependence upon them. Although both of these young ladies have a “no cell phone policy” at their family dinner tables, they experienced culture shock upon visiting friends. Sitting awkwardly at friends’ dinner tables, they sought to engage - only be to be met by a table full of blank stares looking down at phones.

On Sunday, the Rev. Joe Mitchell’s sermon added to our conversation. He preached on our desire as a society to constantly want the latest and greatest technology. He spoke of the good in cell phones - the ability to connect with family and friends who were far away. He also challenged the not so good - the ability to need a bigger and better device to store our data like the man who destroyed his barns to build bigger ones.

As a youth minister, I struggle with the integration of technology, especially cell-phones in the life of our community. I recognize how much smart phones can be used to God’s glory - for easy access to digital Bibles, for immediate access to the Daily Office and Sunday lectionary readings, for prayer over the phone with my youth ministry friends across the world, and for counseling kids through a rough day at school. This year, we will be using cell-phones and IPADS as we search for God’s grace in the internet when we launch our new high school Sunday School - the Unveiling. I also see how disconnected they can make us when we see them as more important as the people around us.  

Struggling with authentic ways to live our faith both in the context of community and the world around is is not a new idea. For thousands of years, Christians have struggled with balancing Christ like community and secular world. For the past weeks, we have been reading Romans within the context of our Sunday readings. Paul did not have cell phones, but he did struggle with the right uses of food in relation to faith and especially how that food effected Christ’s beloved community. Was one to follow strict Jewish rules on food, or was one to eat anything as the Gentiles did? Paul gives us these words,

“Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat; for God has welcomed them... Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.” (Romans 14: 2-5). Paul goes on to remind us that whatever it is we do, it is not to pass judgement on one another but to build up one another for the body of Christ, and to do all for the glory of God. The community has a responsibility to look after one another - if what you are eating is causing another person to stumble in their relationship with Christ, then you probably shouldn't eat it in front of them. For Paul, food was the symptom of the issue. The issue was a community who loved and lived for Christ, the food was the symptom that was being manifested. “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit... Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building.” (Romans 14: 17, 19).

I do not know what Jesus would do with a cellphone. I imagine he would use it to keep up with those in crisis, to say daily prayers, to keep a calendar of healing appointments. But I do know, he would use it for the glory of God and for the benefit of a loving community. Cell phones are not the issue - holy living is the issue. To eat or not eat, use a cell phone or turn it off, Christ desires for us to do whatever makes us closer to his presence, both individually and corporately.

As our families and youth return to school, life gets busier and the amount of family communication through text and iCloud calendars increases. As we enter this busy time may we use our phones and our beings for the Glory of God - to love those around us and to spend time challenging each other to be what we are at the core of our being: interconnected beautiful manifestations of God’s love and community. 

"Life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us, so be quick to love and make haste to be kind." - Henri-Frédéric Amiel

From Uganda to Lexington

Original Post Wednesday, May 1, 2013 for Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

This week I attended the Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry. It was a wonderful week of conversation with sociologists and theologians on the future of the church, especially as related to youth ministry. We talked about good uses of technology, our interconnectedness with all the world, and ways in which the church could participates in a global society.

On my return flight, I was seated next to Shelia. Sheila was traveling from her homeland Uganda to Lexington. Shelia schedules the Watoto Children's Choir, part of Watoto Childcare Ministries. Some of you may have heard about them this week - they had a story in the Herald Leader. As their website states, the program is a holistic program initiated in response to orphaned children in Uganda. Many of their students are former prisoners of Joseph Kony and orphans of civil war. As Kony has now moved into the Congo and the Sudan, their organization is expanding to offer safe haven to orphans in those areas.

As you might imagine, Sheila's students have tremendous physical, psychological and educational needs. Watoto works with them to provide counseling, spiritual direction and help them graduate from university. Their goal is 100% graduation. They not only have a tremendous record with rehabilitating these young people into society, they also are training world leaders. As Shelia said, "We have not had a president yet, but we will." As part of their leadership training, students are able to go on a worldwide choir tour for one year, where they specifically hone in on their leadership skills. That tour is why Sheila was sitting next to me.

Sheila spoke fondly of World Vision, the group which sponsors 30 Hour Famine. She was delighted that our church was raising money and awareness. She was comforted that our youth  pray regularly for Uganda. We both shared a love of ministry with children and shared concerns and joys of that work. It was awe inspiring to listen to her tell stories of her ministry. It was evident that the presence of Christ is transforming the dark pasts of these orphans into young people who serve as tremendous beacons of Christ's light and love.

We do live in a global society. Civil wars in places like Uganda, the Congo, and Sudan do effect our lives in Lexington. You do not have to travel to Uganda or to Princeton to meet someone who has been effected by civil war in Africa. This summer, through Habitat for Humanity, we will build a  house for the Kumbaskisaka Family. Due to the plight of war in the Congo, the Kumbaskisakad fled to America for a new start, safety, and peace of mind.

When talking about spiritual communities, the letter of Galatians reminds us to "Bear one another's burdens" so that we may fulfill the law of Christ. As our society becomes more and more interconnected we have a great opportunity to uplift our global neighbors in prayer and bear their burdens. And as we do such we also grow from one another's joys. As Sheila taught me, there are great lessons of Christ's healing and resurrection in stories of hope to be told of our brothers and sisters who have overcome tremendous obstacles through their faith in Christ.

Thanks be to God for the gift of Christ which connects us all.

*For more information on the Watoto Children's Choir - www.watoto.com

*There are many ways to help the Kumbaskisaka's find home on May 19th and 25th. For more information on our Habitat Fundraisers - http://www.ccclex.org/#!the-ride-home/c1v9n

Dormancy

Original Post Wednesday, March 13, 2013 for Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3).

Saturday, March 2, was a cold day. As the temperature fell fast and the snow fell faster, 12 youth and 4 adults bravely headed outside to work in one of Seedleaf’s community gardens. Participating in 30 Hour Famine, our students were fasting and praying for an end to world hunger while participating in local community service. On this day, one-third of our group had been assigned to work outside.

The first group worked diligently and deliberately to remove cover-crop and weeds and to rake the raised beds. The second group brought in a cardboard barrier, followed by a layer of dirt. A third group planted onions, turnips, and parsnips. We were clearing out and making way. In a few months, new vegetables of all kinds will spring forth from ground that was, on this day, frozen dead and cold. 

Yesterday, as I looked out, I was convinced we were done with cold and dead ground. My jonquils were bursting forth and my primrose was filling in. The sun was shining. Yesterday was a good day. I like spring - the new life part, the resurrection part. The days when dead looking trees experience new buds, butterflies come out of cocoons, and flowers form overnight. Those days my heart warms and my soul learns to fly like a newly born fluttering butterfly.

Today, I awoke cold to a dusting of snow covering my spring flowers. The sunshine peaked through for a moment, and then the sky returned to grey. I like the new life part, but I don’t do as well with the death part - those days when the ground is frozen, those days snooze is a better option because the shower will be too cold, those days when I am so spiritually frozen I am not sure whether I will thaw out again. I do not like those days, but nonetheless, they are as important as the new life days.

In God’s infinite wisdom, nature teaches us everything about death, dormancy, and new life. In Christ’s ultimate example, we see the radical implications of the transition from death to resurrection in the tomb. In the astuteness of our church Father’s and Mother’s we are given Lent as a time to reflect on those dark place of our lives so that we might be reborn. Yes, glimpses of new life are all around us. The resurrection is certainly on its way. But dark places are important too. The dead winter grounds of our soul prepare us. They rest us. They make way for new life. I may not like it, but God knows I need it.

Igniting a Kingdom Life

Original Post Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

This past weekend, our youth confirmation class retreated to Natural Bridge. It was a wonderful and fulfilling weekend -  full of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit. On Saturday, my side of the cabin woke up to a chilling cold. Our gas tank had been emptied in the middle of the night and our heat was out. A very helpful maintenance man came to fill the tank up. I watched as he checked the gas logs in the fireplace.  Because the gas had run out there was no pilot light. He relit the pilot light and turned the dial to on.  The gas lines were empty and nothing happened. We watched as the blue light of the pilot glowed underneath the logs. We chatted and chatted. We even chatted about how the gas must still be off, and then – all of the sudden – woosh! Gas took fire, the logs were lit and heat was all around burning brightly and warmly. 

In Sunday’s Gospel we read the story of John the Baptist found in Luke 3. As people gather and come to see John the Baptist they are expecting to find the Messiah. John tells the crowd, “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, a Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out” (The Message). 

This story reminds me of the own day I was ignited by the Holy Spirit. I was at camp my senior year of high school. After camp fire, a counselor invited a few of us to a prayer circle. There, under the stars, with a group of 10 youth and counselors the Holy Spirit descended and I prayed as if I had never prayed before. It continues to be one of the most powerful moments of my faith development.

Many of us have had experiences of being ignited with God’s Spirit. As youth minister, I see that ignition at Happening and on Confirmation Retreat. It is the moment when students’ faces transform from boredom to the bright radiance of Christ’s beaming light. I saw it this weekend as our students read Eugene Peterson’s Bible, the Message, on their bedside and found a renewed sense of burning love for God’s word. I heard of the ignition of spirit from a parishioner today who was prayed upon and felt and outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. Many of us have moments of spiritual ignition, when our fire catches. What are your moments? 

Last Sunday, we as a community celebrated the light of Christ through Epiphany. This Sunday, we will celebrate as two of our young people are baptized and receive the light of Christ. As we renew our Baptismal Vowels with them, let us all pray for the power of the Holy Spirit which might ignite all of us to do the good works which God calls us to do.  

“Oh God, you prepared your disciples for the coming of the Spirit through the teaching of your son Jesus Christ: make the hearts and minds of your servants ready to receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit, that they may be filled with the strength of his presence; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” Prayer for those about to be baptized. BCP, 819.

On Time God

Original Post: Wednesday, September 26, 2012Christ Church Cathedral's Inner Peace 

On Thursday, August 23, 8 students and 3 adults drove to St. Louis for the J2A Urban Adventure.  As they traveled down the highway gospel blared over the radio. In a deep alto voice Dottie People’s sang, “He’s an on time God, Yes He is, He’s an on time God, Yes He is. He may not come when you want Him, but He’ll be there right on time. He’s an on time God, Yes He is.” What does that mean? On time God? 

As the students rode, they decided that they were not sure what “On Time God” meant, but throughout the weekend, God’s timeliness manifested itself over and over again. A Dean who met us at the downtown Cathedral late at night, on time, despite the fact we had the wrong phone number for him. A wonderful experience of service at the Bridge St. Louis – a place that feeds breakfast and lunch to over 300 people a day, as well a resource and job center for many of St. Louis’ homeless. God gifted us with a living saint, Patrick, who had spent time on the streets of St. Louis and was now employed by the Bridge to give tours, lead groups, and talk about his experiences. Whatever was meant by “On Time God” our group was experiencing it. 

On the third day of the trip, we broke the students into 2 groups and gave them Amazing Race style tasks to complete. As the groups looked at maps and tried to navigate from point A to point B, the people of St. Louis demonstrated a tremendous sense of what it meant to be welcomed by God and neighbor. As the J2A kicked off their year of “Discovering God’s Welcome”, everywhere we turned members of St. Louis opened their arms to us. The housed and unhoused, black and white, and the rich and poor all stopped us on the street, welcomed us, introduced themselves to us, and pointed us in the right direction. My group ran into Barnabus, a Kenyan, who placed us on the right path. When he was finished helping us, he huddled us up in the middle of the street, laid hands on us, and prayed for us. The other group had a similar experience. After they were stopped by a man, after he helped them find their way, after he gave them advice, he closed with “I tell you what, our God is an on time God.” 

Our God was an on-time-God in St. Louis and our God is an on-time-God at Christ Church Cathedral. Everywhere I turn I see instances of people helping others by welcoming them, listening to them, and pointing them in the right direction. When we open ourselves to look for it, God’s welcome to us is always timely. Where have you experienced an on-time-God in your life this week?